uneafiness that can accompany the execution of it. Melancholy, therefore, as is the talk of commiferating the fufferings of others, there is always fomething that will make us ample amends for it; a ray of light always breaks thro' the gloomy fcene, to gild and enlighten it. Bleffed are they who thus mourn, for they, fays our Saviour, fhall be comforted: they will be pitied when in affliction by thofe whom they have pitied, and comforted by thofe whom they have comforted. Whilft there is any feeling in the breasts of mankind, their forrows must be felt; whilft there is any gratitude in mankind, their fenfibility must be returned, their compaffion and humanity must be rewarded.

Joy, mirth, and pleafure, are frequently in the power of man to beftow, but comfort is the peculiar gift of God; a gift of fo exalted and divine a nature, that the full and proper dif penfation of it feems to be referved for himfelf; to be as it were an emanation from the Supreme Being, the diftinguishing attribute of the third perfon in the facred Trinity. The Holy Ghoff, we may here obferve, is emphatically stiled the Comforter: If I go away, fays our Saviour, I will fend the Comforter unto you: this was the only recompenfe that could be made to his weeping difciples, for the abfence of their bleffed Lord and Redeemer. Comfort indeed, though it hath not the glaring and attractive charms of deluding pleafure, hath more folid and lafting advantages to recommend it, carrying with it a pleafing remembrance of paft forrows, which always enhances

prefent felicity; it is a fenfation doubtlefs far more grateful to the foul than all the transports of joy, and the flashes of idle merriment; a more tranquil and heart-felt delight than it is in the power of wine, wit, or any fenfual gratification to beftow. Add to this alfo, that no pictures are fo pleafing as thofe where the light and fhade are fo agreeably contrafted as to fet off and recommend each other: and this is the true and enviable ftate of the comforted man; the more miferable he has been, the more happy will he find himfelf; and the heavier the calamities were which he laboured under, the more exquifite will be his fenfations when delivered from them. How beautiful is the chearful day, and the light of the fun, to him who has long languifhed in a dark and dreary prifon! how refreshing is the air, to him who hath been confined to a fick chamber! Would we hear the praises of health, we must not ask it of him who hath enjoyed it for a long feries of time, but from him who is juft risen from a ficknefs; and if we would know the bleffings of profperity, he who is exalted to it from a fate of penury and want, will defcribe it to us infinitely better than the man who hath lived in affluence from his cradle.

Blaffed, therefore, are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

In all our afflictions and calamities, let us turn afide our eyes from the dark and dreary profpect before us; let him that mourneth look forward to the glorious promise that is annexed to it, and remember that he fhall be comforted:

comforted: let us no longer then gaze with an eye of envy and difcontent on the affluence and profperity of the rich and great, who have their portion of felicity in this world; let us not be dazzled by their fplendor, or deceived by the mere external appearance of happiness, but rather let us confider those who seldom or never tafte of mifery, as bereaved of true and folid pleasure, whilft those whom God had vifited with forrow and affliction, are entitled to future comfort, and to eternal happiness. I, even I, faith the Lord, am he that comforteth you; who art thou, therefore, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man who fhall die, and of the fon of man who fhall be made as grafs? Whilft we have fuch a comforter, furely, my brethren, we need not fear what man, or the enemy of man, can do unto us.

To conclude, therefore, in the comfortable words of the prophet Isaiah: The Lord hath anointed his chofen to bring good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for afhes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness, that the Lord may be glorified. -The redeemed of the Lord therefore fhall return, and come with finging unto Zion, and everlasting joy fhall be upon their head; they fhall obtain gladness and joy, and forrow and mourning fhall flee away.

ON UNIVERSAL BENEVOLENCE.

SERMON

ROMANS XII. 15.

XI.

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

HAT mankind were formed for fociety,

TH

that we were born to ferve and love one another, doth fufficiently appear both from the frame and ftructure of our bodies, and all the internal qualities and paffions- of our minds. Man was purposely made too ignorant to know, and too indigent to fupply, his own neceffities, that he might be forced, in fpite of himself, to afk the aid and affiftance of his fellow-creatures.

To keep up and maintain that harmony and good-will amongst men fo inftrumental to their happiness, God hath graciously implanted in every breast the great and universal principle of Benevolence; filled our hearts with focial affections, with that diffusive spirit of humanity, and that fympathetic tenderness which inclines us to partake of all the joys and forrows, the good and evil which is dispensed to our fellow-creatures. There have indeed been men (and perhaps now are) who have so ftifled the cries of nature, fo extirpated the principle of benevolence from their minds, as to deny

the

the reality and exiftence of it. These men will affert that friendship is nothing but felfintereft, that pity is weakness, and compaffion folly. No man, fay they, rejoices in another's good fortune, but from the hopes of rivaling or fupplanting him; no man weeps for the afflictions of his neighbour, but from a fecret dread of falling himself into the fame calamity. But these are poor and fhallow arguments, which every hour's experience is fufficient to confute; the minds of thefe minute philofphers are corrupted and depraved; they look into the hearts of others, and there find, or pretend to find, that infenfibility which they feel in their own. Without participation there is no enjoyment, and with it there are very few evils but are fupportable. A finall share of the good things of life, with the advantages of fociety, are far more worthy of our acceptance, than all the treasures, than all the kingdoms of the earth without it. And accordingly the holy apoftle's advice, in the words of my text, comprehends too feparate and diftinct duties; very different indeed in their nature, but both of them equally neceffary to the well-being of fociety, and of confequence equally binding upon every individual member of it: Rejoice, fays he, with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep; that is, Do not imagine yourfelves born for yourfelves alone, but as members of the great community: let therefore both the joys and the afflictions of others be the inftruments. of your happiness, and the trials of your virtues; let the fuccefs of your fellow-creatures dilate and expand your

hearts